


What's the Point of Waiting?

by Southerner_holby



Category: Holby City
Genre: Flaf, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23859832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Southerner_holby/pseuds/Southerner_holby
Summary: Raf is shot and ends up in the lift, but someone is there to help him this time.No one dies.
Relationships: Raf Di Lucca/Adrian "Fletch" Fletcher
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	What's the Point of Waiting?

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being the same length as my essay for uni which I found funny.  
> I hope you all like this, it has been nice to write about another couple.  
> Any comments are appreciated, I really want to improve my writing.   
> Stay safe, love you all x

The arrangement that Raf and Fletch had was going great. Raf helped out with Fletch’s children, feeding them and getting them to school on time, or at least close to the time. Since Fletch and his kids moved into Raf’s home, they had become closer and made a great team, managing to control the mob of children that overtook every aspect of their lives. Fletch always felt bad imposing on Raf’s life, not allowing him any freedom, but Raf insisted that he didn’t mind. 

“Raf! Could you get Ella and Theo out of bed please? We’re going to be late!”. Fletch rarely woke up after 6am, but today his alarm didn’t go off and he suspected that the kids had something to do with it. 

“Don’t worry, they are sitting eating their breakfast, just concentrate on getting yourself ready, I’ll sort them out!” Raf popped his head around his bedroom door and looked at Fletch longingly, but he didn’t notice as he was concentrating too much on getting ready for the day. His hair was messy, and he looked absolutely exhausted after a few days of getting little sleep. 

“Mikey and Evie have already left, we’re not due at the hospital until 9. Just relax”. Raf ran off to make sure they weren’t causing chaos in the kitchen with their cereal.  
Fletch was so grateful to have Raf to help him with everything. Since their mum died, the children struggled to accept anyone else into their lives, but Raf fitted perfectly into their little family. Of course, it was part of the arrangement that Fletch save up for a house of their own, but neither Raf nor Fletch really wanted that.  
Their life together worked, even though they were only friends. 

10 minutes later, Fletch came down the stairs in his shirt and tie, which Raf absolutely loved seeing Fletch in, but he looked very stressed. 

“Right, come on you two”, he turned his attention to his youngest children, who were sat at the kitchen table, “put your shoes on and get in the car”. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll take them to school, you eat something and I’ll see you at the hospital”. Raf brushed past Fletch on his way out the door, their hands brushing. Inwardly, both Raf and Fletch felt it, but thought this wasn’t the time to be spilling the beans on their feelings for each other 

“Raf, thanks, I appreciate it, I’ll see you later”. Following this, there was a brief silence where they were just appreciating each other’s existence, not being able to imagine life without them, but both were too scared to say anything. 

Raf smiled his cute little smile and disappeared out the door, leaving Fletch in the house on his own. As he sat down with a coffee and slice of toast, he held his head in his hands. All he wanted was to tell Raf how he felt, but there never seemed like the right moment. The children took over their lives. Of course, he wouldn’t change them for the world, but sometimes he just wished that he and Raf could have time to talk about everything. 

Lost in his thoughts, he realised it was time to leave and head to the hospital. 

At around 8:30am, he arrived in the carpark of Holby City hospital, dreading the day ahead. He was absolutely exhausted after a series of RTC’s throughout the week. 

All that was keeping him going here was coffee, and Raf working on the same ward. Before his shift, he had to go and see Hanssen, so made his way up to the relevant floor. 

After a short discussion with Hanssen about the nursing shortages and what will be done to fix the issue as best as they can, Fletch entered the lift back down to AAU.  
While he was in the lift, the lights started to flicker which concerned him, but he knew the lifts were sometimes a bit of a liability. Eventually, however, he reached the ground floor but, just as the doors opened, a loud bang erupted on AAU and someone fell into the lift. Before he could comprehend what had just happened, the doors started to close and the lights went off. Turning the torch on from his phone, he saw who it was. 

“Raf!”, slinging his bag on the floor, Fletch bent down to examine him. Blood was seeping from a wound in his arm and, as he moved the torch along his arm, he could see shrapnel from what appeared to be a bullet. 

“Raf, what happened?!” Fletch kneeled down next to him, trying his best to stem the flow of blood from his arm. 

“Fletch”, Raf’s voice was weak and fearful. “I think I’ve been shot”, he winced in pain as he grabbed his arm. 

“Okay, it’s okay.” Fletch tried desperately to press buttons to get the lift going again, but to no avail. He tried pressing the emergency button to get through to security, but even that wasn’t working. 

“For goodness sake! Why have an emergency button if it doesn’t help in an emergency?!” After expressing his anger at the useless lift, he quickly turned his attention to Raf, who had been shot. 

His best friend… had been shot… and now they were alone in the broken-down lift in the dark. Fletch took a deep breath to comprehend this, still in disbelief. 

Immediately, he took off his belt and used it as a tourniquet to stop the flow of blood as best he could, all the while trying to tell Raf that it would be okay. “It’ll be okay, mate, try to stay calm. I’m just going to try to slow the flow of blood” He held Raf’s arm in the air, doing all he could to save Raf’s life. 

“Mate.” Raf laughed. 

“What?” Fletch replied, still very much preoccupied with trying to contact someone to let them know what had happened. 

“You called me mate” Raf said in his cute Scottish accent. Even covered in blood, Raf was the most beautiful person Fletch had ever seen in his life. 

“I always call you mate.” 

“I know, but I never liked it”. Raf did his best to look into Fletch’s eyes, but it was hard considering the lighting issue. The glint Fletch always had in his eyes was gone, his eyes instead held an incomprehensible fear at losing his best friend in the world. 

“Why, what do you prefer?” He didn’t get to hear his answer, because when he looked back at Raf after drawing attention away from his arm, his eyes were closing and he was getting paler, although the torch was making it hard to see how pale he was. 

“Raf! Don’t you dare leave me like this. The kids will never forgive you and neither will I”. A tear fell from Fletch’s eyes, and he grabbed Raf’s hand, tenderly kissing it. 

He could see Raf fighting to keep his eyes open, but also how tired and weak he was. 

Raf inhaled sharply. “The kids… tell them, tell them I love them”, Raf whispered, seeming to gain a little bit of strength. 

“You can tell them yourself when we go home tonight, because we will be going home. We’ll have fish and chips, with mushy peas, and a big glass of wine, watching Emmerdale, although I know neither of us have a clue what’s going on”.  
Raf smiled faintly. “Mikey hates fish”. 

“I know” Fletch laughed. 

Just then, Raf’s eyes closed completely, and his pulse began to weaken. 

“No no no no no, Raf! Raf please wake up”. Fletch began sobbing, desperately trying to wake him. However, just as he had begun to lose hope completely, a brightness entered the lift and he realised the lift doors had opened. 

“Fletch! What happened?” Sacha was stood on the other side of the doors. 

“Sacha! He was shot, he needs bloods, I can’t lose him!” Fletch broke down, carrying Raf over to a bed. Raf was limp and fragile in his arms. 

“Right, let’s get him straight into theatre! Fletch, I think you should go outside, we’ll look after him”. Sacha, Serena and Essie raced into theatre looking very determined. 

Meanwhile, Fletch decided he should get some air, so went outside and saw the huge crowd of people gathered around the front entrance to Wyvern Wing. Walking to the peace garden, and sat on the bench and put his head in his hands wishing he had done something earlier, that he had told Raf how he felt before so he would at least have some time with him. Instead, he was lying on an operating table close to death. How would he tell the kids what happened to him? They wouldn’t be able to handle losing another parent figure. 

The day had begun ordinarily, and never in a million years would he think Fredrik would have it in him to do this. Raf had never done a bad thing in his life. He was the most caring person Fletch had ever known in his life, so why did he deserve this? After moving in together, they had become so much closer but never taken the step to tell each other how they felt. 

Life really is too short, and this is a thought that played in Fletch’s mind for a long time before he made his way back to the hospital. What’s the point in waiting to tell someone how you feel, when you can tell them right now? 

Fletch walked onto a silent ward, some police were guarding the entrance but saw his ID badge and let him through. The atmosphere on AAU was like something out of a film. The eery silence was broken, however, by a trolley being wheeled out of theatre. 

“Raf?” he raced over to the trolley and met Sacha who was walking alongside it to a bay. 

“He’s going to be fine, thank goodness. We’ve given him bloods and removed the bullet. It was touch and go for a while, but he pulled through.” Sacha put his hand on Fletch’s shoulder, and left them to it. 

Fletch sat in the chair next to Raf’s bed, scared to touch him and instead just admiring how peaceful he looked compared to the pain he had been in in the lift. All he wanted was to protect him, but he couldn’t even do that. He felt so useless. 

“Fletch” Raf whispered, startling him slightly out of his thoughts. 

“Raf! How are you feeling mate?” Fletch answered, wanting to do all he could to make Raf feel better. 

“I thought I said I didn’t like you calling me that,” he remembered what Raf had said in the lift, smiling slightly that Raf still remembered. 

“What would you prefer?”. 

Raf turned his head to look at Fletch, his eyes seeing the glint that had disappeared in the darkness of the lift. 

“I don’t want to be your ‘mate’ anymore. For the longest time, ever since you and the kids moved in, I’ve wanted you to call me your boyfriend”. Fletch’s eyes softened, and a different kind of tear fell from his eye. He grinned, and Raf smiled back. 

“Well, I can’t argue with that”. He took Raf’s hand and kissed it, finally knowing it was what they both wanted. “I was scared that it wasn’t what you wanted, that you didn’t even like me in that way”. 

“Rubbish. You’re all I’ve ever wanted”. They tangled their fingers together, and everything began to make sense. 

Serena came over from the nurse’s station to see how Raf was doing. 

“Hi Raf, how are you feeling?” she asked as she stood on the other side of the bed. 

“I’m great, actually” Raf replied, still holding Fletch’s hand. 

“Good”, Serena replied, smiling knowingly. “You’ll have to stay in for a couple of days so we can keep an eye on you, but then you’re free to go home”. 

“Great, thank you Serena, for everything”. He said, so happy to be alive. 

“Anytime, now you two go and be happy, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time! Don’t think you’ve been subtle; I’ve seen the looks you give each other from across the ward.” Serena said, shocking them both. She then walked away from the bed, leaving them to it. 

After a while, Raf fell asleep and Fletch just sat there admiring him, thanking every lucky star that he was running late this morning, and that he had been in the lift at the time. He didn’t want to wonder what would have happened otherwise, but his heart broke at the thought of Raf suffering alone. 

He then thought he should probably ring Evie to let her know what had happened. 

“Evie, what? No, I’m fine, don’t worry. Raf was hurt but he’s doing well. I’ll be home a bit late tonight, so get a takeaway. There are some menu’s in the cutlery draw in the kitchen. I’ll bring you all tomorrow to see Raf. Yep, see you later, bye”. 

After he hung up, he saw that Raf was awake. “Evie’s worried about you, I said I’d bring them tomorrow to come and see you, only if you’re up to it.” He said, perching on Raf’s bed. 

“I’d love to see them. Do you think they’d be okay, with this?” Raf said, concerned about how they would react to their relationship. 

“They love you, and so do I, so I don’t think they’ll mind a bit.” Fletch replied, not realising what he had said. 

“What?” Raf said, smiling. 

“Oh, did I not mention it? I love you”. Fletch replied confidently, leaning over to kiss him. Pulling away after a couple of seconds, he heard some feet shuffling behind him. He turned around to see all four of his kids stood on the ward. Evie and Mikey were grinning. 

“Evie, I thought I told you to get a takeaway?”

“I know, but it didn’t feel right knowing that you two were here, so we brought pizza”. Ella and Theo jumped up on the bed, being careful to mind Raf, and Evie and  
Mikey stood at the end of the bed. 

“Dad, Raf, we’ve been shipping you the whole time!” Mikey said, and then went back to eating his pizza. 

Raf and Fletch looked at each other grinning, but neither knew what ‘shipping’ meant, they assumed it was a good thing though. 

After a while, Ella and Theo fell asleep while Evie and Mikey went to bother Serena, who was sat in her office but was glad for the distraction after the day’s events. 

“Oh, there was something I forgot to say earlier.” Raf said, looking over to Fletch. 

“What?”

“I love you too.” Raf replied. Looking at all of the kids, he knew this was where he belonged. He had never been happier or more grateful to be alive.


End file.
